Hello 👋
I recently wrote an article, titled “A letter to women”

Here is a sequel to the article👇(A letter to women by OLIVIA EZEANI )

Many ladies 👩 think they are living their best life right now, but the truth is many of you are settling for less. If you look closely at your life, you will find out that you are living less compared to the greatness that is there inside of you. You can still push yourself to become the woman you want to be❤️

Source: www.facebook.com/Ezeaniolivia

At about 8am we heard a knock at the door, I rushed to open it believing it is Chibuike, even my parents were expectant, they were just looking at the door and mom was alerted. But when I opened it, it was a police officer that was knocking. Dad had called them earlier because of Chibuike. Immediately mom noticed that it wasn't her son, she sighed and remained sober. I greeted the police officer, dad came to the door to speak with him. I stood close by, the police officer was assuring my dad that Chibuike will return home because there weren't any case of someone reported injured because of the ravage that took place last night.
Then why isn't he home yet? Mom wept.
I didn't know she was also listening, so her wailing came as a surprise, and I was startled. The police officer didn't say much, he told dad that he will be going, and they will continue the search for Chibuike, hopefully he will come home very soon. Dad left the door opened, and I had to close it. Since last night I was trying to console mom, but it seems she didn't want any of it. It was only dad that was with her all through, I was there too, but it was as if I wasn't there. Few minutes later two neighbours came in with the same police officer who had left minutes ago. The two women sat close to my mum on the chair and started encouraging her. The Police officer came close to dad and asked to see him outside, I went with them, the police officer didn't object even if he asked to see just dad. The police officer was leading us to the police van. Then he started asking questions, he asked if Chibuike told us where he was going before leaving. Dad looked at me, expecting me to reply.
Yeee....ssss I stammered, the police officer now concentrated on me to give him more information. He said he was going to the church and then to Uche's house after that.
Oh? That's his name, the police officer muttered under his breath.
Did you say something, Dad enquired?
Looking at the police officer, he clearly appeared like he wanted to say something, but was hesitating to do so.
Mr. Benjamin, I don't want you to be taken aback by what am about to show you, then he beckoned on the other police officer to open the door of the van. At this point my heart started racing, immediately the door was open I saw a foot I recognized so well.

That's your son, the police officer said quietly”. Tears rolled down dad's cheek, I have never seen my dad crying. I was touched, but then there were no tears on my eyes.
I came closer, saw Chibuike's body lying lifelessly. I touched his feet, it was so cold. I didn't believe he was Chibuike. I felt goose bumps run through my spine, all of a sudden I started feeling hot. Truly at that time I wasn't crying but I felt like I was totally in a different world. I overtly felt numb.
This can't be true, I kept on saying'
Never can I believe that my brother will die now, and the time he went to the church would be the last time he would smile at me. When I touched his shirt I noticed there were no signs of injury as I had expected. I thought the ravage last night killed him but then I saw stains of blood on his shirt, then I also noticed they were bullets. One was on his chest then the other on his forehead.
My brother was shot, I screamed. I fell to the floor, and moments we spent together flashed through my brain. I remembered the time I turned yesterday and realized he had already reached the police station.
Dad came back to reality and started asking questions. Why was he shot and how come?
We can't say for now, we just found his lifeless body”.
Was it at the church? “Dad asked”. The police officer shook his head and said it was at his friend's house.
Then where is his friend, where is Uche? Hurry and get him to explain what happened.
The police officer was quiet, then he said Uche is nowhere to be found. “It was a planned murder”. I didn't know when I started rolling on the floor crying. At that time neighbours rushed to the scene to know why I was crying.

www.Facebook.com/Ezeaniolivia

Worldhopper:
Part 3 please...

Check next post

Worldhopper:
Please continue. I couldn't find the rest of the story on the Facebook page.

Below is the link to the second part👇

https://www.nairaland.com/7558833/blood-moon-olivia-ezeani-part

It's been five hours since Chibuike went to the church. I kept on looking through the route he followed to know if he is coming back, but there was no sign of him. I still tried to concentrate on the customers that came to the shop. After a little time, we heard noises and saw people running, from” Cikkin Geri”. Cikkin Geri was the inward part of Monguno. Everywhere was in disarray, even Muslims were running to their houses. People were running, the Almajiris were chanting some words in Arabic and were stoning people. They were chanting lā ʾilāha ʾillā -llāh meaning “There is no God except Allah”. The boys that normally help at my mum's shop had all left except for one person. He was already taking some of our goods inside. I guess he suspected the reason for the chaos. Dad thought there was a fight not knowing there is a lunar eclipse. It was only on such occasion that the Almajiris come out at night stoning and chanting those words. They did it for fun, not because it was a religious activity. I looked up and saw the moon, half of the moon was quite vermilion. I wanted to put water in a bowl and tried to look at the water in the bowl to see the reflection of the moon in it, but there was this superstition we had when we were little that if we tried it, we will become blind forever.

Meanwhile, Chibuike was not yet home. Mom shouted at me to come inside, when an Almajiri threw a stone at me and I dodged it, it hit our Coca-Cola fridge that was stationed outside. I ran inside bending down close to the deep freezer. By now the scent of tear gas filled the air, I knew it was the police. Dad had managed to close the doors of the shop. I kept on hearing the sounds of stones on the doors, and I remained down on the floor. Mom was already wailing because Chibuike was not yet home. It was one of the boys that closed the Coca-Cola fridge that was stationed outside.

It was already morning and Chibuike was not home yet. My parents were so worried and I was too. We couldn't sleep, we were praying and hoping that nothing happened to him. Last night was horrifying and people were in jumble. This was the usual practice by the Almajiris whenever there is an eclipse of the moon. They throw stones at people. We managed to come home last night amidst the plagued swivet. We stayed longer at the shop because we were thinking Chibuike might show up. I tried to comprehend the affinity between the lunar eclipse and the vex that occurred last night and I wished I had looked at the moon from the water in the bowl, so that I will know if the superstition was correct. Am I not crazy? If it were true then I would be blind by now. At about 8am we heard a knock at the door, I rushed to open it believing it is Chibuike, even my parents were expectant, they were just looking at the door and mom was alerted.

Source: www.Facebook.com/ezeaniolivia

During November time in Maiduguri, the time when thick aerosols laden the entire region. The time when the harmattan wind became lower than normal temperature in the morning and night and hotter during the day time. During the day, the weather was quite sticky and sweltering that I had to wear my fleece jacket, a jacket I never liked. Last month, we had the problem of reduced visibility. Soil particles were distributed in the atmosphere by the movement of air masses.

People could hardly see other people from a distance, the whole atmosphere was covered in light dust haze. Dad had bought a lot of face masks for us. My eyelashes and every other hairy part of my body were turning canescent, no matter how many times I washed, it won't remain black for long.

The Muslims who washed themselves for purity before prayers suffered from it the more, because the more water touches your skin, the more it increased. This is something we are used to, nobody seems bothered or complained about it. It was this same evening that I went to the shop with Chibuike. Chibuike is my elder brother and my only sibling. After dropping me at the shop, he left saying he wants to go to the church, for Altar boys meeting. I wanted to go with him, but he refused. He said he will be going to see Uche after that. I groaned but he ignored me and left. Mum called me to attend to a customer, before I could finish attending to the customer Chibuike had reached the police station. I love dogs but certainly not the police dogs of Monguno police division. Like a dog with a bone, they don't stop barking. They were already barking at Chibuike, and the police station route was the best route to follow when you want to go the church area. Churches weren't scattered in Monguno. We had a place called “the church area” where all the churches were built together including protestant churches. Someone standing in mom's shop could easily see another person at the police station. The only demarcation was the main road.

Ada, mom called me'. She never addressed me as Chidera. She called me to attend to customers again. I don't like coming to my mum's shop because of too many customers to attend to and too many things to do. After attending to the customer, I went to the fridge to take Schweppes to drink. It is a sour drink that contains enough lime but I like it, Chibuike will never take this drink for any reason. Most people who often take this drink, usually said they like it because it isn't sugary, and they would prefer it to the rest. Chibuike taunted and said they don't know it actually contains more sugar so it could inhibit the taste of the excess lime in it. I was always checking the time and looking at a distance to know if Chibuike was on his way, but I couldn't see him anywhere and it was already dark. I didn't get to watch Tom and Jerry by 7pm, and by now it was already time for super story by 8pm. Even my parents were now worried, Chibuike usually comes home before it gets too dark if he wanted to come back late, he'd tell my parents about it. Mom was already in tears, I could hear her muttering silently.
God, please protect Chibuike” I muttered silently too.

Source: www.facebook.com/ezeaniolivia